The flower in my throat

The next day

Emma got to school seeing Norman so went over to him. She smiled at him giving him a hug the two waited seeing Ray hadn't turned up yet.

"He may have gone straight to form"

"Probably I'll let you know if I see him in maths"

"Yea then I'll let you know if he's in English in case he skips because he sometimes does"

"Yea see you later then"

Emma nodded and walked off to form, slightly worried for ray.

They started going to lessons and she saw he wasn't in English so sighed and hoped Norman would see him next lesson knowing he wouldn't be allowed to skip two in a row.

At break she waited at their usual table seeing Norman walk over with no sign or ray so sighed a look of sadness in her eyes. Norman sat next to her and placed an arm around her.

"I'm guessing he wasn't in English"

"No and I can tell he wasn't in maths"

"Mhm, look he's probably just taken a sick day"

" I can't help but worry then. He would have told us"

"He probably slept in though"

"I don't know Norman, I've spent a few nights at his when my dads would go out on long trips and he doesn't sleep that much"

"I know that but he's probably sleeping for once with everything that's going on"

Emma huffed and pulled away from Norman's grip. "Sorry it's just"

"If you want space that's fine Emma."

"Yea.."

After a few minutes Norman changed the subject and the two spoke for a bit. Emma heard her phone ping so sighed not wanting to spend a week alone while her dads went out again but knew she'd have to. She quickly text them back and said she's be okay but to ask if she could pop around to Ray's if needed. Yugo responded telling her to ask them herself so she made the plan to go around their after school. She put her phone away and went back to the conversation.

"Sorry that was my dad and I didn't want to ignore him"

"That's fine Emma. Look it's none of my business but I was wondering if you knew anything about Ray's crush because it's weird that he keeps coughing around us or it gets worse and I know he doesn't like females"

"Norman you're a smart guy. You can figure this one out but if you do, just don't tell him you know"

"Wait... you don't mean?"

"Mhm"

"Oh-right." Norman immediately went silent and picked at the food on his plate.

"Look I can tell that makes you uncomfortable but I can see why he would Norman"

"No, it's- it's fine"

The two saw the time and knew they had to leave for their next classes so got up and walked off.

Emma waited for the lessons to end, feeling them drag on forever. The minute the day was over, she walked home to quickly say bye to her dads which took a while since Lucas kept checking she would be okay or that she wouldn't worry about them and so on. Eventually they left and she made her way to Ray's once she saw their car leave their street.